|
Date |
Sunday 20th November 2011 |
|
Match |
Letchworth GCE Eagles Oranges v Royston Town Youth Eagles |
|
Competition |
Royston Crow Youth Football League U12 Division 2 |
|
Result |
Won 1-3 |
|
Royston Scorers |
Lewis A 2, Billy (Pen) |
|
Man of Match |
Stephen – dominated his position and let nothing by him all game |
Anyone who reads these reports might just start to see a common thread in them.
If you are wondering what, then I will assist…… BELIEF.!
Belief that we are actually good enough to win, to compete and to come back from being a goal down.
We have been lucky with the weather this season, and Sunday was another warm November day. The pitch was, as usual for Pixmore, rather muddy and chewed up. So Nik and myself told the lads to play wide and use the space on the wings to create our attacks. The goals were larger than the regulation size (it’s the same for both teams) so we told our team to aim high and leave the keeper no chance.
We lined up with Charlie C in goal, a back four of Jack D, Jamie C, Jamie P and Lewis W. Midfield had Frankie, Lewis P and Billy central with Charlie A and Tom on the wings. Lewis A started upfront.
We started brightly and it soon became apparent that both teams were very evenly matched. We were playing into the sun and slightly uphill first half and so we wanted to get to half time at least on level terms. We could have easily taken the lead when Lewis A had a good run down the right wing. However, Letchworth managed to clear the ball.
Jack D was having a blinder as right back, cutting out all the through balls from the Letchworth midfield. Lewis P and Frankie were starting to dominate midfield and Billy was being his usual terrier self, hassling for the ball and looking for the flick ons to Lewis A up front. Stephen had come in on the left of midfield and was really attacking well.
With 20 minutes gone we were hit by a long ball over the top that caught us off guard. We were pushing forward to attack and a lob over our defence was well latched onto by Letchworth and they took the lead. Despite some more good attacks we couldn’t find the equaliser and half time found us trailing.
This is where belief comes in.
Nik and myself told the lads that we could, should and would win this match. We needed to continue to close Letchworth down and attack with pace when we had the ball. The lads needed to believe in themselves and carry on playing the good football they had played in the first half.
Immediately we were on the attack and some more excellent work from Lewis A saw the Letchworth goal troubled. However, they cleared again and some great defending from Stephen (now moved to left back) kept us in the hunt.
This fired up the lads, and a series of good attacks had Letchworth scrabbling back to defend. Every attack Letchworth was cut out by the Jamies and the excellent Stephen and Jack defensive quartet.
Lewis W came on to the left of midfield and very nearly managed to get a goal, however, Letchworth again cleared. Our second goal came from a very dubious penalty that had the crowd angrily shouting from the sidelines. Sometimes you need the breaks, but in all honesty it was all we deserved, and Billy fired the penalty home with his usual calmness. 2-1!
With Letchworth pushing for the equaliser, Lewis A broke clear from halfway and cool as a cucumber, he passed the ball past the flailing keeper into the net. 3-1!
The final whistle saw the lads with huge grins on their faces and lots of backslapping. They are getting better with each match and are becoming a close knit team ready to play for each other and be supportive of each other. You need to beat the teams around you in this league, and that’s exactly what they are doing.
Well done lads!
Squad – Jamie C (Captain), Jamie P, Charlie C, Charlie A, Stephen, Frankie, Lewis P, Lewis W, Jack, Tom, Lewis A, Jordan, Billy
